{{short description|US pulp magazine}} {{Featured article}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{italic title}} {{Infobox magazine | title = | image_file = Tarzan All Story.jpg | image_size = | image_alt = A man in a loincloth attacks a lion with a knife | image_caption = The October 1912 issue of ''All-Story'', containing the first Tarzan story. The artist is Clinton Pettee.<ref>Porges (1975), p. 159.</ref> | category = Pulp magazine | firstdate = January 1905 | finaldate = July 17, 1920 | finalnumber = | editor = Robert H. Davis | publisher = Frank Munsey | country = USA }} '''''The All-Story Magazine''''' was a pulp magazine founded in 1905 and published by Frank Munsey. The editor was Robert H. Davis; Thomas Newell Metcalf also worked as a managing editor{{#tag:ref|A managing editor is typically responsible for the daily operations of a publication.<ref>Sumner & Rhoades (2006), p. 19.</ref>|name=meditor|group=note}} for the magazine. It was published monthly until March 1914, and then switched to a weekly schedule. Munsey merged it with ''The'' ''Cavalier'', another of his pulp magazines, in May 1914, and the title changed to ''All-Story Cavalier Weekly'' for a year. In 1920 it was merged with Munsey's ''Argosy''; the combined magazine was retitled ''Argosy All-Story Weekly''.
Many well-known writers appeared in ''All-Story'', including the mystery writer Mary Roberts Rinehart and the Western writer Max Brand. The most famous contributor to the magazine was Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose first sale, ''Under the Moons of Mars'', appeared in ''All-Story'' in 1912. This was the start of his Barsoom science fiction series set on Mars; the next three novels in the series also appeared in ''All-Story''. In 1912 ''All-Story'' printed Burroughs's ''Tarzan of the Apes'', and more stories of Tarzan followed, along with two installments of another of Burroughs's series, about Pellucidar, a land inside the Earth. The first appearance of Zorro, the vigilante, was in ''All-Story'' in 1919, in Johnston McCulley's novel ''The Curse of Capistrano''. Many other science fiction and fantasy stories appeared over the life of the magazine. Starting in 1939 some of the stories from ''All-Story'' were included in ''Famous Fantastic Mysteries'' and ''Fantastic Novels'', both of which were created as vehicles for reprints from the Munsey magazines.
== Publication history == {| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed collapsible" style="max-width:400px; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 9pt; margin-left: 2em; text-align: center; float: right" |+ class=nowrap | Issue data for ''All-Story'' from 1905 to 1914 |- ! !Jan !Feb !Mar !Apr !May !Jun !Jul !Aug !Sep !Oct !Nov !Dec |- !1905 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3/4 |- !1906 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6/4 |- !1907 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |8/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |8/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |8/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |8/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |9/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |9/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |9/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |9/4 |- !1908 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |10/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |10/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |10/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |10/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |11/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |11/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |11/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |11/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |12/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |12/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |12/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |12/4 |- !1909 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |13/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |13/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |13/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |13/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |14/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |14/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |14/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |14/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |15/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |15/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |15/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |15/4 |- !1910 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |16/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |16/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |16/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |16/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |17/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |17/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |17/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |17/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |18/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |18/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |18/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |18/4 |- !1911 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |19/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |19/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |19/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |19/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |20/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |20/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |20/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |20/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |21/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |21/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |21/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |21/4 |- !1912 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |22/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |22/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |22/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |22/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |23/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |23/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |23/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |23/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |24/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |24/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |24/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |24/4 |- !1913 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |25/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |25/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |25/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |25/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |26/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |26/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |26/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |26/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |27/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |27/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |27/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |27/4 |- !1914 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |28/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |28/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |28/3 | | | | | | | | | |- | colspan="14" style="font-size: 9pt; text-align:left; line-height: 10pt;" |{{legend0|#ccffff|Bob Davis}} |} In 1882, Frank Munsey launched ''The Golden Argosy'', a children's weekly magazine. The title changed to just ''The Argosy'' in 1888, and in 1896 Munsey switched to using coarse pulp paper, and printing only fiction, thus launching the first pulp magazine. It was immediately successful. Other publishers brought out competing magazines, such as Street & Smith's ''The Popular Magazine'' in 1903, and Story-Press's ''The Monthly Story Magazine'' in 1905. As the competition grew, Munsey decided to add another pulp title.<ref name=":7">Ashley (1985), pp. 103–109.</ref>
Munsey launched ''The All-Story Magazine'' in January 1905 on a monthly schedule with Robert H. Davis as the editor, and Davis hired Thomas Newell Metcalf to work for him as managing editor.<ref name=":1">Moskowitz (1970), pp. 318–319.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Stephensen-Payne |first=Phil |date= |title=All-Story (Cavalier) Weekly/Magazine |url=http://www.philsp.com/mags/all_story_weekly.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230726002534/http://www.philsp.com/mags/all_story_weekly.html |archive-date=July 26, 2023 |access-date=October 13, 2023 |website=Galactic Central}}</ref>{{#tag:ref||name=meditor|group=note}} Munsey had hired Davis early in 1904 to work on the ''New York Sunday News'', but sold it in April of that year, and Davis had been fiction editor of ''Munsey's Magazine'' since then.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Britt (1972), p. 232.</ref>
In March 1914 ''All-Story''<nowiki/>'s schedule switched to weekly, and in May of that year it was combined with another Munsey pulp, ''The Cavalier'', under the title ''All-Story Cavalier Weekly''.<ref name=":2" /> Davis and Metcalf had each dealt with some ''All-Story'' contributors up to that point, but thereafter Davis took over working with the writers who had been Metcalf's responsibility.<ref>Porges (1975), p. 183.</ref><ref name=":3"/> The following year the "''Cavalier''" was dropped, and it continued as ''All-Story Weekly'' again until 1920, when it was merged into ''The Argosy.''<ref name=":2" /> The combined magazine was retitled ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'', and retained that name until 1929.<ref name=":7" />
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== Contents and reception == {| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed collapsible" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 9pt; margin-left: 2em; text-align: center; float: right" |+ class="nowrap" | Issue data for ''All-Story'' from 1914 to 1920 ! ! !January !February !March !April !May !June !July !August !September !October !November !December |- ! rowspan="2" |1914 |'''Dates:''' | | | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7,14,21,28 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4,11,18,25 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2,9,16,23,30 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6,13,20,27 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4,11,18,25 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1,8,15,22,29 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5,12,19,26 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3,10,17,24,31 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7,14,21,28 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5,12,19,26 |- |'''Volume:''' | | | bgcolor="#ccffff" |29/1 to 29/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |30/1 to 30/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |31/1 to 32/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |32/4 to 33/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |33/4 to 34/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |34/4 to 35/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |36/1 to 36/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |37/1 to 38/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |38/2 to 39/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |39/2 to 40/1 |- style="border-top: 2px solid" ! rowspan="2" |1915 |'''Dates:''' | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2,9,16,23,30 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6,13,20,27 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6,13,20,27 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3,10,17,24 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1,8,15,22,29 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5,12,19,26 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3,10,17,24,31 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7,14,21,28 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4,11,18,25 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2,9,16,23,30 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6,13,20,27 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4,11,18,25 |- |'''Volume:''' | bgcolor="#ccffff" |40/2 to 41/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |41/3 to 42/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |42/3 to 43/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |43/3 to 44/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |44/3 to 45/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |45/4 to 46/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |46/4 to 47/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |48/1 to 48/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |49/1 to 49/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |50/1 to 51/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |51/2 to 52/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |52/2 to 53/1 |- |- style="border-top: 2px solid" ! rowspan="2" |1916 |'''Dates:''' | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1,8,15,22,29 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5,12,19,26 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4,11,18,25 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1,8,15,22,29 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6,13,20,27 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3,10,17,24 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1,8,15,22,29 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5,12,19,26 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2,9,16,23,30 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7,14,21,28 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4,11,18,25 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2,9,16,23,30 |- |'''Volume:''' | bgcolor="#ccffff" |53/2 to 54/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |54/3 to 55/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |55/3 to 56/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |56/3 to 27/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |57/4 to 58/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |58/4 to 59/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |59/4 to 60/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |61/1 to 61/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |62/1 to 63/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |63/2 to 64/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |64/2 to 65/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |65/2 to 66/2 |- |- style="border-top: 2px black solid" ! rowspan="2" |1917 |'''Dates:''' | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6,13,20,27 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3,10,17,24 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3,10,17,24,31 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7,14,21,28 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5,12,19,26 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2,9,16,23,30 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7,14,21,28 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4,11,18,25 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1,8,15,22,29 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6,13,20,27 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3,10,17,24 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1,8,15,22,29 |- |'''Volume:''' | bgcolor="#ccffff" |66/3 to 67/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |67/3 to 68/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |68/3 to 69/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |69/4 to 70/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |70/4 to 71/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |71/4 to 72/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |73/1 to 73/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |74/1 to 74/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |75/1 to 76/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |76/2 to 77/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |77/2 to 78/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |78/2 to 79/2 |- |- style="border-top: 2px black solid" ! rowspan="2" |1918 |'''Dates:''' | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5,12,19,26 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2,9,16,23 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2,9,16,23,30 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6,13,20,27 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4,11,18,25 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1,8,15,22,29 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6,13,20,27 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3,10,17,24,31 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7,14,21,28 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5,12,19,26 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2,9,16,23,30 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7,14,21,28 |- |'''Volume:''' | bgcolor="#ccffff" |79/3 to 80/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |80/3 to 81/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |81/3 to 82/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |82/4 to 83/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |83/4 to 84/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |84/4 to 85/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |86/1 to 86/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |87/1 to 88/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |88/2 to 89/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |89/2 to 90/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |90/2 to 91/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |91/3 to 92/2 |- |- style="border-top: 2px black solid" ! rowspan="2" |1919 |'''Dates:''' | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4,11,18,25 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1,8,15,22 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1,8,15,22,29 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5,12,19,26 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3,10,17,24,31 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7,14,21,28 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5,12,19,26 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |2,9,16,23,30 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6,13,20,27 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |4,11,18,25 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1,8,15,22,29 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6,13,20,27 |- |'''Volume:''' | bgcolor="#ccffff" |92/3 to 93/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |93/3 to 94/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |94/3 to 95/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |95/4 to 96/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |96/4 to 97/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |98/1 to 98/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |99/1 to 99/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |100/1 to 101/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |101/2 to 102/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |102/2 to 103/1 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |103/2 to 104/2 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |104/3 to 105/2 |- |- style="border-top: 2px black solid" ! rowspan="2" |1920 |'''Dates:''' | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3,10,17,24,31 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |7,14,21,28 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |6,13,20,27 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3,10,17,24 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |1,8,15,22,29 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |5,12,19,26 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |3,10,17 | bgcolor="#ccffff" | | bgcolor="#ccffff" | | bgcolor="#ccffff" | | bgcolor="#ccffff" | | bgcolor="#ccffff" | |- |'''Volume:''' | bgcolor="#ccffff" |105/3 to 106/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |106/4 to 107/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |107/4 to 108/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |108/4 to 109/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |109/4 to 110/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |111/1 to 111/4 | bgcolor="#ccffff" |112/1 to 112/3 | bgcolor="#ccffff" | | bgcolor="#ccffff" | | bgcolor="#ccffff" | | bgcolor="#ccffff" | | bgcolor="#ccffff" | |- | colspan="14" style="font-size: 9pt; text-align:left; line-height: 10pt;" |{{legend0|#ccffff|Robert H. Davis}} |} The first issue included the first instalments of five novels, including W. Bert Foster's ''When Time Slipped a Cog'', about a man who discovers a year of his life has passed that he cannot remember. Two of the short stories were science fiction as well: Howard R. Garis's "The Ghost at Box 13", and Margaret Prescott Montague's "The Great Sleep Tanks".<ref name=":1" /> The May issue reprinted Garrett P. Serviss's short novel ''The Moon Metal'' (originally published in book form in 1900), about a new fiscal standard that replaced gold with a metal from the moon.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Ashley |first1=Mike |author-link1=Mike Ashley (writer) |last2=Eggeling |first2=John |date=October 7, 2019 |title=SFE: All-Story, The |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/all-story_the |access-date=October 13, 2023 |website=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> Serviss also appeared in 1909 with ''A Columbus of Space'', serialized in the January to June issues, which science fiction historian Sam Moskowitz commented "caused some to class Serviss as the equal of Jules Verne".<ref>Moskowitz (1968), p. 36.</ref>
Mary Roberts Rinehart's first story, "A Gasoline Road Agent", appeared in the April 1905 issue. Davis encouraged her efforts, and her first novel, ''The Circular Staircase'', was serialized in ''All-Story'' from November 1906 to March 1907. In book form the novel later became the first major success of her career.<ref name=":3">Moskowitz (1970), p. 320.</ref><ref>Server (2002), pp. 221–222.</ref> Max Brand, one of the most prolific of all pulp writers, sold his first Western novel, ''The Untamed'', to ''All-Story''; it was serialized starting in the December 1918 issue.<ref>Server (2002), p. 35.</ref> Ray Cummings, another prolific pulp author, began his career with "The Girl in the Golden Atom" in the March 15, 1919, issue of ''All-Story''; it was one of the most popular stories he ever wrote.<ref name=":7" /> Other ''All-Story'' writers included Rex Stout, later a well-known mystery writer; Western writer Raymond S. Spears;<ref name=":6" /> science fiction writer Murray Leinster;<ref name=":7" /> horror and fantasy writers Tod Robbins and Perley Poore Sheehan,<ref name=":6">Hulse (2013), pp. 19–29.</ref> and W. Adolphe Roberts, a Jamaican writer who later became a leader of Jamaica's independence movement.<ref>Locke (2007), p. 67.</ref> ''All-Story'' also published poetry, including work by Djuna Barnes, later known as an important figure in modernist and lesbian literature.<ref>Earle (2009), p. 65.</ref><ref>Parsons (2007), pp. 165–177.</ref><ref>Miller (2006), p. 14.</ref> Eldred Kurtz Means's "Tickfall" stories, about black Americans in Louisiana, began in ''Cavalier'' and moved to ''All-Story'' when the two magazines merged.<ref>Drew (2015), p. 89.</ref> Johnston McCulley's Zorro series began with the serialization of ''The Curse of Capistrano'' in August and September 1919, and continued in ''Argosy'' after the magazines merged in 1920.<ref>Server (2002), pp. 184–185.</ref> Edwin Baird, later the founding editor of ''Weird Tales'', made his first sale to ''All-Story'' in 1906, and contributed several more over the life of the magazine.<ref>Locke (2007), p. 79.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephensen-Payne |first=Phil |title=Index by Date: Page 316 |url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/i00/i00316.htm#A80 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240919063330/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/i00/i00316.htm |archive-date=September 19, 2024 |access-date=December 22, 2024 |website=Galactic Central}}</ref>
The first issue's cover printed the words "Something New" in a script font on a red background. A picture of two cowboys appeared on the next issue. The third issue took over the cover for a declaration that the magazine had reached a circulation of 200,000, but thereafter artwork was used on every cover. Artists included Valentine Sandberg and F. X. Chamberlain. The cover illustrations did not at first have any relationship to the stories in the magazine.<ref name=":1" />
John Clute, discussing the American pulp magazines in the first two decades of the twentieth century, has described ''All-Story'' and its companion, ''Argosy'', as "the most important pulps of their era."<ref name=":33">Clute (1995), p. 43.</ref>
=== Burroughs === [[File:All story weekly 19200410.jpg|alt=A man holding a gun and wearing a robe sits and watches cowboys in the street|left|thumb|The cover of the April 10, 1920 issue; cover art by Modest Stein<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephensen-Payne |first=Phil |title=Magazine Contents Lists: Page 177 |url=http://www.philsp.com/homeville/gfi/k00177.htm#A8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240918222047/http://www.philsp.com/homeville/gfi/k00177.htm#A8 |archive-date=September 18, 2024 |access-date=December 22, 2024 |website=Galactic Central}}</ref>]] The most important author discovered by ''All-Story'' was Edgar Rice Burroughs.<ref name=":0" /> Burroughs was thirty-five years old in the summer of 1911, and unsuccessful in business. He began writing a novel in July of that year, "very surreptitiously" as he later recalled: "I was very much ashamed of my new vocation ... It seemed a foolish thing for a full grown man to be doing". By August he had completed enough of the story to send it to ''All-Story'' under the title "Dejah Thoris, Martian Princess", adding in his covering letter that the completed story would be three times the length of the 43,000 words he was submitting. Metcalf replied with guarded enthusiasm, asking for some cuts, and a total length of no more than 70,000 words. Metcalf bought the rewritten story in November for $400 (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|400|1911|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}); given the manuscript had taken four months of work, Burroughs was unimpressed at the pay rate.<ref>Porges (1976), pp. 2–7.</ref> The story was serialized in ''All-Story'' from February to July 1912, titled ''Under the Moons of Mars''. This was the first of Burroughs's Barsoom stories ("Barsoom" being the name of the planet Mars in the series), an early and influential planetary romance.<ref name=":8" /> ''Darkness and Dawn'', by George Allan England, had been serialized in another Munsey magazine, ''The Cavalier'', starting in January that year, and science fiction historian Sam Moskowitz regards the appearance of these two stories as signalling the start of an era of popular science fiction love stories.<ref>Moskowitz (1970), pp. 334–336.</ref> Burroughs had intended the story to be printed under the pseudonym "Normal Bean", to indicate he was an ordinary person despite the fantastic nature of the story.<ref>Porges (1975), p. 4.</ref> The typesetter assumed it was an error and the story appeared as by "Norman Bean", leading Burroughs to give up the pseudonym and publish his subsequent work under his real name.<ref>Porges (1975), p. 118.</ref>{{#tag:ref|When the sequel, ''The Gods of Mars'', appeared, one reader wrote to ''All-Story'' to complain that the new writer, Burroughs, had not "continued the story the way the original author would have done".<ref>Porges (1975), p. 170.</ref>|group=note}}
Burroughs's next submission to Metcalf was rejected,<ref>Porges (1975), pp. 116–117.</ref> but in March 1912 Burroughs sent Metcalf a description of the novel he was working on, titled ''Tarzan of the Apes''; Metcalf was enthusiastic about the idea and promptly bought the manuscript when Burroughs submitted it in June.<ref>Porges (1975), pp. 123–128.</ref> It appeared in the October 1912 issue of ''All-Story.''<ref name=":0" /> The next three Barsoom novels appeared in ''All-Story'' over the next four years: ''The Gods of Mars'' was serialized from January to May 1913;<ref>Porges (1975), p. 147.</ref> ''The Warlord of Mars'' ran from December 1913 to March 1914, and ''Thuvia, Maid of Mars'' appeared in 1916.<ref>Porges (1975), p. 726.</ref> The second Tarzan book, ''The Return of Tarzan'', appeared in ''New Story Magazine'', but the series returned to ''All-Story'' for three of the later novels: ''The Beasts of Tarzan'', ''The Son of Tarzan'', and ''Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar'', and for some of the subsequent short stories in the series.<ref name=":5" /> Burroughs's Pellucidar series, about adventures inside a hollow Earth, also began in ''All-Story'', with ''At the Earth's Core'' and ''Pellucidar''.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last1=Pringle |first1=David |author-link1=David Pringle |last2=Clute |first2=John |author-link2=John Clute |date=November 25, 2024 |title=Burroughs, Edgar Rice |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/burroughs_edgar_rice |access-date=December 22, 2024 |website=The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction}}</ref> The initial rate of less than a cent per word that Burroughs received for his first sale began to increase: Metcalf agreed to a rate of two and a half cents per word (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|0.025|1914|r=2}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}), for everything he bought from Burroughs in 1914.<ref>Porges (1975), pp. 176–177.</ref>
By the time ''All-Story'' merged with ''Argosy'' in the summer of 1920, almost two dozen stories and serialized novels by Burroughs had appeared in the magazine.<ref name=":5">Porges (1975), pp. 787–790.</ref> Burroughs's popularity led to a demand for similar stories, and to imitations.<ref name=":4">Ashley (1976), pp. 17–18.</ref> Science fiction historian Mike Ashley suggests that this was the reason for the increasing number of science fiction stories that began to appear, from writers such as Austin Hall, Homer Eon Flint, and Junius B. Smith. Hall's "Almost Immortal" appeared in 1916, along with short science fiction tales by John U. Giesy, J. B. Smith, Charles B. Stilson, and Victor Rousseau.<ref name=":4" /><ref>Porges (1975), p. 213.</ref> The following year ''All-Story'' published Abraham Merritt's first story, "Through the Dragon Glass". Merritt was one of the most popular pulp writers, and in 1918 two more of his stories appeared: ''The People of the Pit'', and "The Moon Pool".<ref>Stableford (1997), pp. 639–640.</ref> "The Conquest of the Moon Pool", a sequel to the latter story, followed in 1919, and both were well received.<ref name=":4" /> When Hugo Gernsback launched ''Amazing Stories'', the first science fiction magazine, in 1926, he soon discovered that the technically oriented science fiction he preferred did not sell as well as more fantastic stories, and he responded by reprinting "The Moon Pool" in the May 1927 issue.<ref name="TTM_54-56">Ashley, ''Time Machines'', pp. 54–56.</ref>
In 2006, a copy of the October 1912 issue of ''All-Story'', featuring the first appearance of the character Tarzan in any medium, sold for $59,750 (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|59750|2006|r=-3}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) in an auction held by Heritage Auctions of Dallas.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 2006 |title=Rare Pulp Brings Record Price at Heritage! Price of $59,750 Triples Previous Auction Record for any Pulp Magazine |url=http://comics.ha.com/common/newsletter.php?inFrame=yes&id=1823&date |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817084341/https://comics.ha.com/heritage-auctions-newsletter/rare-pulp-brings-record-price-at-heritage-.s?inFrame=yes&id=1823&date |archive-date=August 17, 2022 |access-date=September 20, 2006 |work=Heritage Auctions |quote=}}</ref>
== Bibliographic details == {{Multiple image | image1 = The All-Story Magazine 1905-01.jpg | alt1 = A magazine cover with "Something New" written on a red shield below the title | image2 = The All-Story Magazine 1905-09.jpg | alt2 = Three horses and their jockeys in a race | footer = The first issue, dated January 1905, and a later issue, from the period when the covers did not relate to the stories in the magazine }} The magazine's title was originally ''The All-Story Magazine''. This was shortened to ''The All-Story'' in June 1911, and then changed to ''All-Story Weekly'' when it switched from monthly to weekly publication with the March 7, 1914, issue. From May 16, 1914, to May 8, 1915, it was titled ''All-Story Cavalier Weekly'' as a result of the merger with ''The'' ''Cavalier'', and for the rest of its run, until the July 17, 1920, issue, it was ''All-Story Weekly'' again.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephensen-Payne |first=Phil |date=October 14, 2023 |title=Magazine Data File |url=http://www.philsp.com/data/data018.html#ALLSTORYMAGAZINE1905 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128191052/http://www.philsp.com/data/data018.html#ALLSTORYMAGAZINE1905 |archive-date=January 28, 2023 |access-date=October 14, 2023 |website=Galactic Central}}</ref>
In 1929 Munsey's reorganized two of their magazines: ''Munsey's Magazine'' became part of a new love story magazine titled ''All-Story'', and ''Argosy All-Story Weekly'' became simply ''Argosy''.<ref name=":102">{{Cite web |last=Stephensen-Payne |first=Phil |title=Magazine Data File |url=http://www.philsp.com/data/data018.html#ALLSTORYLOVE |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203104132/http://www.philsp.com/data/data018.html#ALLSTORYLOVE |archive-date=December 3, 2024 |access-date=February 21, 2024 |website=Galactic Central}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stephensen-Payne |first=Phil |title=''The Argosy'' & Related Magazines |url=http://www.philsp.com/mags/argosy.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241202120451/http://www.philsp.com/mags/argosy.html |archive-date=December 2, 2024 |access-date=February 21, 2024 |website=Galactic Central}}</ref> The new ''All-Story'' was soon retitled ''All-Story Love Stories'' and continued publication until 1955.<ref name=":102" />
=== Reprint magazines and anthologies === The long history of the Munsey magazines meant that by the 1930s there were many stories readers had heard of but could no longer obtain. In response to reader requests, Munsey's launched ''Famous Fantastic Mysteries'' in 1939 to reprint old stories from both ''Argosy'' and ''All-Story Weekly''. The following year Munsey's launched ''Fantastic Novels'', another reprint magazine, to make longer stories available without needing to serialize them in ''Famous Fantastic Mysteries''. ''Fantastic Novels'' only lasted five issues before being discontinued in 1941, but ''Famous Fantastic Mysteries'' lasted for 81 issues, ceasing publication with the June 1953 issue.<ref name="Clareson 1985a, pp. 211–216">Clareson (1985a), pp. 211–216.</ref><ref name=":36">Clareson (1985b), pp. 241–244.</ref> Popular Publications, which had acquired ''Famous Fantastic Mysteries'' from Munsey's in 1942, brought back ''Fantastic Novels'' for another 20 issues between 1948 and 1951.<ref name="Clareson 1985a, pp. 211–216"/><ref name=":36" />
In 1970 Sam Moskowitz edited a collection of stories from the Munsey magazines titled ''Under the Moons of Mars: A History and Anthology of "The Scientific Romance" in the Munsey Magazines, 1912–1920''. Seven of the nine stories included had originally appeared in ''All-Story''.<ref name=":7" /><ref>Moskowitz (1970), pp. vii–viii.</ref>
== Notes == {{Reflist|group=note}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Sources ==
* {{Cite book |last=Ashley |first=Michael |url= |title=The History of the Science Fiction Magazine: Volume 1: 1926–1935 |publisher=Henry Regnery Company |year=1976 |isbn=0-8092-8003-5 |editor-last=Ashley |editor-first=Michael |location=Westport, Connecticut |pages=11–51 |chapter=Introduction: An Amazing Experiment |ref=none |author-link=Mike Ashley (writer) |orig-year=1974 |url-access=}} * {{Cite book |last=Ashley |first=Mike |url= |title=Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1985 |isbn=0-313-21221-X |editor-last=Tymn |editor-first=Marshall B. |editor-link=Marshall Tymn |location=Westport, Connecticut |pages=103–109 |chapter=The Argosy and All-Story |ref=none |author-link=Mike Ashley (writer) |editor2-last=Ashley |editor2-first=Mike |url-access=}} * {{cite book |last=Clareson |first=Thomas D. |url= |title=Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1985a |isbn=0-313-21221-X |editor-last=Tymn |editor-first=Marshall B. |location=Westport, Connecticut |pages=211–216 |chapter=Famous Fantastic Mysteries |ref=none |editor2-last=Ashley |editor2-first=Mike |url-access= |name-list-style=amp}} * {{cite book |last=Clareson |first=Thomas D. |url= |title=Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1985b |isbn=0-313-21221-X |editor-last=Tymn |editor-first=Marshall B. |location=Westport, Connecticut |pages=241–244 |chapter=Fantastic Novels |ref=none |editor2-last=Ashley |editor2-first=Mike |url-access= |name-list-style=amp}} * {{cite book |last=Clute |first=John |author-link=John Clute |title=Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia |publisher=Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc. |year=1995 |isbn=0-7894-0185-1 |location=New York |ref=none}} * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFXIBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA88|title=Black Stereotypes in Popular Series Fiction, 1851–1955: Jim Crow Era Authors and Their Characters|first=Bernard A.|last=Drew|year=2015 |publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers|isbn=978-0-7864-7410-3|via=Google Books | ref=none}} * {{Cite book |url= |title=Re-Covering Modernism: Pulps, Paperbacks and the Prejudice of Form |first=David M. |last=Earle |year=2009 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=978-0-7546-6154-2 |ref=none |location=Farnham, Surrey}} * {{Cite book |last=Hulse |first=Ed |title=The Blood 'N' Thunder Guide to Pulp Fiction |publisher=Murania Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1491010938 |location=Morris Plains, New Jersey |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Locke |first=John |title=Pulpwood Days Volume 1: Editors You Want to Know |publisher=Off-Trail Publications |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-9786836-2-7 |editor-last= |editor-first= |location=Elkhorn, California |pages= |chapter= |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Miller |first=Meredith |title=Historical Dictionary of Lesbian Literature |publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc. |year=2006 |isbn=0-8108-4941-0 |editor-last= |editor-first= |location=Lanham, Maryland |pages= |chapter= |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |last=Moskowitz |first=Sam |author-link=Sam Moskowitz |title=Science Fiction by Gaslight: A History and Anthology of Science Fiction in the Popular Magazines, 1891–1911 |publisher=The World Publishing Company |year=1968 |isbn= |editor-last=Moskowitz |editor-first=Sam |location=Cleveland, Ohio |pages=15–50 |chapter=Introduction: A History of Science Fiction in the Popular Magazines, 1891–1911 |oclc=1330798369 |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |last=Moskowitz |first=Sam |title=Under the Moons of Mars: A History and Anthology of the Scientific Romance in the Munsey Magazines, 1912–1920 |publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winston |year=1970 |isbn=0-03-081858-3 |editor-last=Moskowitz |editor-first=Sam |location=New York |pages=289–433 |chapter=A History of the Scientific Romance in the Munsey Magazines, 1912-1920 |ref=none |author-link=Sam Moskowitz }} * {{cite book |last=Parsons |first=Deborah |url= |title=The Cambridge Companion to the Modernist Novel |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-85444-3 |editor-last=Shiach |editor-first=Morag |location=Cambridge |pages=165–177 |chapter=Djuna Barnes: melancholic modernism |ref=none |url-access= |name-list-style=}} * {{Cite book |last=Porges |first=Irwin |title=Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan |publisher=Brigham Young University Press |year=1975 |isbn=0-8425-0079-0 |location=Provo, Utah |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |last=Server |first=Lee |author-link=Lee Server |title=Encyclopedia of Pulp Fiction Writers |publisher=Checkmark Books |year=2002 |isbn=0-8160-4578-X |location=New York |ref=none}} * {{Cite book |last=Stableford |first=Brian |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/fe/merritt_a |title=The Encyclopedia of Fantasy |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-312-15897-1 |editor-last=Clute |editor-first=John |editor-link=John Clute |location=New York |pages=103–109 |chapter=Merritt, Abraham |ref=none |author-link=Brian Stableford |editor2-last=Grant |editor2-first=John |url-access=}} * {{Cite book |last1=Sumner |first1=David E. |author-link= |title=Magazines: A Complete Guide to the Industry |last2=Rhoades |first2=Shirrel |author-link2=Shirrel Rhoades |publisher=Peter Lang |year=2006 |isbn=0-8204-7617-X |location=New York |oclc= |ref=none}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:All-Story Magazine}} Category:Defunct men's magazines published in the United States Category:Defunct magazines published in the United States Category:Magazines established in 1905 Category:Magazines disestablished in 1920 Category:Pulp magazines